Forecast: Cloudy

Okay, not really.
A forecast I mean.
I mean it's cloudy tonight so I guess I'm going to be waiting until next month to get tonight's Moon shot.
The good news is that there's gonna be a lunar eclipse on Saturday night.
Make that Sunday morning.
Early.
Okay, not that early as it's supposed to start at about 12:30am or so.
I hope it's not cloudy.
You can be sure that the Flat Tire Mission Control Center(FTMCC) will be waiting for this event.
It's not a full eclipse, only a partial one, but still, it should be kinda cool. The last partial one I had the pleasure of viewing was interesting as well. The Moon got all dim and sort of reddish as the Earth blocked out the Sun.
Huh?
No, that's a solar eclipse when the Moon blocks the Sun.
A lunar eclipse is when the Earth gets in the way of the Sun shining on the Moon:



Not as dramatic as turning the day into night.
More like turning the night into, well, night.
Still, should be pretty cool.
More about Saturdays/Sundays eclipse here.
While The Flat Tire Observatory(FTO) is shuttered for the night, let me take this time to finally give credit to the Moon reference I've been using:



Atlas of the Moon, by Antonin Rukl, was published in 1996 by Kalmbach Publishing, the publishers of Astronomy magazine.
Unfortunately, it is no longer in print.
There was a second edition.
Unfortunately, the second edition is no longer in print also.
You can find it used for like a GAGILLION dollars at places like Amazon, but if you are really hard up for one, I would check evil eBay.
The bad part of astronomy books is that there are usually short printings. The good part is that you can find really good books in the bargain section of your favorite book seller because hardly anyone ever buys them.
I just picked this up from Borders for like nine bucks:



Okay, well I had hoped it would begin to clear in the time it took me to post this up, but no such luck.
Let's hope the forecast for Saturday is clear.